Barbara Mertz

Barbara Louise Mertz (September 29, 1927 – August 8, 2013) was an American author who wrote under her own name as well as under the pseudonyms Elizabeth Peters and Barbara Michaels. In 1952 she received a PhD in Egyptology from the University of Chicago. While she was best known for her mystery and suspense novels, in the 1960s she authored two books on ancient Egypt, both of which have remained in print ever since.

Biography

Barbara Mertz was born on September 29, 1927, in Canton, Illinois.^[1] She was graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor's degree in 1947, a master's degree in 1950, and a PhD in Egyptology in 1952,^[2] having studied with John A. Wilson.^[3] She authored two books on ancient Egypt (both of which have been continuously in print since first publication), but primarily wrote mystery and suspense novels. She became a published writer in 1964. She was married to Richard Mertz for 19 years (1950-1969) which ended in divorce.^[4] They had two children, Peter and Elizabeth Mertz.^[5]

Under the name Barbara Michaels, she wrote primarily gothic and supernatural thrillers. Her publisher chose that pseudonym since Mertz had already published one nonfiction book on ancient Egypt, and the publisher did not want Mertz's novels to be confused with her academic work. Under the pseudonym Elizabeth Peters, Mertz published her Amelia Peabody historical mystery series, using a nom de plume drawn from the names of her two children.

She was member of the Editorial Advisory Board of KMT, ("A Modern Journal of Ancient Egypt"), Egypt Exploration Society, and the James Henry Breasted Circle of the University of Chicago Oriental Institute.^[6]

Mertz died at her home in Maryland on August 8, 2013.^[7]

Awards

Mertz received a number of award wins and nominations from the mystery community. Her first recognition came when Trojan Gold was nominated for the 1988 Anthony Award in the "Best Novel" category;^[8] the following year, Naked Once More won the 1989 Agatha Award in the same category.^[9] Following this Mertz earned a series of Agatha Award "Best Novel" nominations, including The Last Camel Died at Noon in 1991; The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog in 1992; Night Train to Memphis in 1994; Seeing a Large Cat in 1997; The Ape Who Guards the Balance in 1998; and He Shall Thunder in the Sky in 2000 which also received an Anthony Award "Best Novel" nomination in 2001.^[8][9] Mertz received a final Agatha Award nomination for "Best Novel" in 2002 for The Golden One and won the "Best Non-fiction Work" the following year for Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium, which also received an Edgar Award nomination in 2004 in the "Best Critical / Biographical Work" category.^[9][10] She was the recipient of a number of grandmaster and lifetime achievement awards, including being named Grandmaster at the Anthony Awards in 1986 and Grandmaster by the Mystery Writers of America in 1998; in 2003, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Malice Domestic Convention.^[11] In 2012 she was honored with the first Amelia Peabody Award at the Malice Domestic Convention; the award was named after the leading character in her long-running series.^[12]

Bibliography

Fiction written as Elizabeth Peters

Amelia Peabody

This series contains 20 books; the most recent and last, The Painted Queen, was published in July 2017. The heroine is an Egyptologist and is married, with one child of her body, Walter, nicknamed and popularly known as Ramses, and two others of her heart: Nefret Forth (3 years older than Ramses) and Sennia (ca. 25 years younger). The stories all relate to the "Golden Age" of Egyptology and nearly all are set in Egypt, with the excavations providing the backdrop for the mystery/adventure plots.

The timeline begins in the 1880s with Amelia's decision to see the world as an unexpectedly-wealthy, feminist spinster, and ends with the discovery of Tutankhamun's tomb in late 1922. (Peters had planned additional books in the series to "fill in the blanks" in the chronology, as she did with River: set in 1910, though it was written after other books that are set later.)

1. Crocodile on the Sandbank. 1975.  Covers the 1884–85 Season.^[13]
2. The Curse of the Pharaohs. 1981.  Covers the 1892–93 season.^[13]
3. The Mummy Case. 1985.  Covers the 1894–95 season.^[13]
4. Lion in the Valley. 1986.  Covers the 1895–96 season.^[13]
5. The Deeds of the Disturber. 1988.  Covers Summer 1896.^[13]
6. The Last Camel Died at Noon. 1991.  Covers the 1897–98 season.^[13]
7. The Snake, the Crocodile, and the Dog. 1992.  Covers the 1898–99 season.^[13]
8. The Hippopotamus Pool. 1996.  Covers the 1899–1900 season.^[13]
9. Seeing a Large Cat. 1997.  Covers the 1903–04 season.^[13]
10. The Ape Who Guards the Balance. 1998.  Covers the 1906–07 season.^[13]
11. The Falcon at the Portal. 1999.  Covers the 1911–12 season.^[13]
12. He Shall Thunder in the Sky. 2000.  Covers the 1914–15 season.^[13]
13. Lord of the Silent. 2001.  Covers the 1915–16 season.^[13]
14. The Golden One. 2002.  Covers the 1916–17 season.^[13]
15. Children of the Storm. April 2003.  Covers the 1919–20 season.^[13]
16. Guardian of the Horizon. March 2004.  Covers the 1907–08 season.
17. The Serpent on the Crown. March 2005.  Covers the 1922 season
18. Tomb of the Golden Bird. March 2006.  Covers the 1922–23 season.
19. A River in the Sky. April 2010.  Covers the 1909–1910 season in Palestine.
20. The Painted Queen. July 2017.  Covers the 1912–1913 season; manuscript completed by Joan Hess following Elizabeth Peters' death

Additionally: Amelia Peabody's Egypt: A Compendium – (with Kristen Whitbread) Published October 2003

Vicky Bliss

The Vicky Bliss novels follow the adventures of an American professor of art history, who keeps getting involved in international crime, and her love interest, a charming art thief known as Sir John Smythe.^[14] Another Peters novel, The Camelot Caper (1969), while not technically a Vicky Bliss story, features Smythe. The novels can be enjoyed in any order, but the stories are highly sequential in nature and are probably better appreciated if read in order of publication.

1. Borrower of the Night (1973)
2. Street of the Five Moons (1978)
3. Silhouette in Scarlet (1983)
4. Trojan Gold (1987)
5. Night Train to Memphis (1994)
6. The Laughter of Dead Kings (2008)

This series and the Amelia Peabody series are slightly related: a fictional tomb discovered by Amelia Peabody and her husband plays an important role in Night Train to Memphis, and in The Laughter of Dead Kings it is revealed that John Smythe is related to the Emersons.

Jacqueline Kirby

In this series, Jacqueline Kirby is a librarian with a very large purse and a knack for solving mysteries. In the first book, The Seventh Sinner, Jacqueline is an unwilling detective. Though it was intended as a stand-alone novel, the protagonist's quirkiness and pursuit of romantic relationships made her stand out and generated a popular following. The series continued with The Murders of Richard III and Die For Love; the latter featured Jacqueline wearing increasingly outrageous costumes and launching a career as a romance novelist. In Naked Once More, Jacqueline continued that career by writing a sequel to a "famous" prehistoric romance novel.

1. The Seventh Sinner (1972)
2. The Murders of Richard III (1974)
3. Die for Love (1984)
4. Naked Once More (1989)

Other fiction

• The Jackal's Head (1968)
• The Camelot Caper (1969) (another title - Her Cousin John) – see above
• The Dead Sea Cipher (1970)
• The Night of Four Hundred Rabbits (1971)
• Legend in Green Velvet (1976)
• Devil-May-Care (1977)
• Summer of the Dragon (1979)
• The Love Talker (1980)
• The Copenhagen Connection (1982)

Fiction written as Barbara Michaels

Georgetown trilogy

1. Ammie Come Home (1968) – Adapted and made into the made-for TV movie, The House That Would Not Die, starring Barbara Stanwyck and Richard Egan.
2. Shattered Silk (1986)
3. Stitches in Time (1995)

Someone in the House series

1. Black Rainbow (1982)
2. Someone in the House (1981)

Stand-alone novels

• The Master of Blacktower (1966)
• Sons of the Wolf (1967)
• Prince of Darkness (1969)
• The Dark on the Other Side (1970)
• The Crying Child (1971)
• Greygallows (1972)
• Witch (1973)
• House of Many Shadows (1974)
• The Sea King's Daughter (1975)
• Patriot's Dream (1976)
• Wings of the Falcon (1977)
• Wait for What Will Come (1978)
• The Walker in the Shadows (1979)
• The Wizard's Daughter (1980)
• Here I Stay (1983)
• The Grey Beginning (1984)
• Be Buried in the Rain (1985)
• Search the Shadows (1987)
• Smoke and Mirrors (1989)
• "The Runaway" (ss) Sisters in Crime, ed. Marilyn Wallace, (1989)
• Into the Darkness (1990)
• Vanish with the Rose (1992)
• Houses of Stone (1993)
• The Dancing Floor (1997)
• Other Worlds (1999)

Nonfiction books

• Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs (1964; rev. ed. 2007)
• Two Thousand Years in Rome (with Richard Mertz) (1968)
• Red Land, Black Land (1966; rev. ed. 2008)

References

External links

• Official website
• Barbara Michaels at Fantastic Fiction
• Elizabeth Peters at Fantastic Fiction
• Amelia Peabody website